Cyberpunk 2074: Shadows of the Past.

Chapter 69 DOG
2074, April 1.

There is always sunshine after the rain.

Even Night City is no exception.

The slanting sun pierces through layers of thin clouds and shines on the gleaming glass of tall buildings, leaving warm shadows one after another.

The violent wind and rain last night seemed to wash away the filth of the city, and even the air became fresh.

Occasionally, a few floating cars pierced through the clouds that were as soft as cotton wool, making a huge roar, passing overhead, and blowing a gust of wind.

David Martinez walked slowly on the street with people coming and going, with a clear sky above his head, but his heart was full of ups and downs of melancholy.

Tomorrow is the deadline to pay tuition fees, but he has not mentioned the tuition price increase to his mother Gloria.

The salary Gloria earns by working hard for 18 hours a day, combined with the full scholarship he received himself, is only enough to pay a fraction of the new tuition fees.

Money is the true lifeblood of Night City.

In the past few days, three or four students in David's class have stopped coming to school.

Generally speaking, his family situation is similar to his. He is the kind of poor boy who exhausted the whole family's efforts to barely meet the high price threshold of Arasaka Academy.

If you can't pay the tuition fees, no matter how good your grades are, it's useless.

Sometimes, David didn't know what he was living for.

Study hard for 20 years, devote all your wealth and energy, just to get an ordinary position in a big company.

After tens of years of hard work in a blazing furnace, it finally turned into a hard-working screw?
It's ridiculous how many people's ultimate dream is within reach of some people.

The children of big companies and nobles have already internally reserved places for the middle and upper classes in the company, and they just wait for the time to come.

Those students from poor families who have been studying hard, squeezed their heads, and spent their entire lives just to fight for these leftovers that others despised.

Even if luck and strength co-exist, and succeed in the end, it is nothing more than becoming an ordinary company employee.

For gangsters and fringe walkers on the street, a company dog ​​is a company dog. Who cares that these people used to be ordinary people, and only through hard work, blood, tears and sweat did they come to where they are today.

They will only use the tip of a knife and bullets to aim at the lackeys of the company in their eyes without any explanation, and "treat them equally".

For large companies, ordinary company employees are just consumables, not even low-end firewood.

Countless employees die suddenly on the job every year.

In Night City, the number of employees who died at work was among the highest in the entire New America.

Even public opinion in society is not friendly enough to the company's employees.

People are generally hostile to company dogs, but when it is mentioned in the news that whoever is an employee of which company dies accidentally due to a certain reason, no one will express sympathy, but will only applaud.

These people have passed on their cruelty to corporate giants to innocent ordinary employees.

It's really not human inside and out.

So, these poor students have worked hard all their lives, what is it for?

Is it worth being forced to forever be called a brainless "corporate dog"?
It's ironic to live a life of poverty, only to open your eyes and take the initiative to jump down towards hell.

David scratched his hair, but he couldn't vent his irritability and confusion.

Wearing his school uniform, he silently waited for the red light to turn green, his toes rubbing back and forth on the hard asphalt road.

"David."

The familiar deep male voice was transmitted along the breeze, awakening the pensive David.

"Brother-in-law?" David shuddered and shivered, waking up from his unconstrained thoughts, and was slightly taken aback.

"Is it too early for school today?" Yawei asked softly, walking slowly on the crosswalk with David, going against the crowd and crossing the bustling streets.

"Ah..." David nodded, his eyes couldn't stop looking around.

"Are you looking for your sister?" Yawei smiled lightly, "We came home very late yesterday, she is like a little slob, and she hasn't woken up yet."

David glanced at the holographic clock hanging on a tall building not far away, and raised his eyebrows.

"Didn't you say that you had something to do with us before? Now we just met, is it convenient to talk about it?"

"Uh...it's hard to say." David scratched the back of his head, feeling uncomfortable.

"About money?"

"Ah."

Chatting with smart people is always convenient and trouble-free. Before you even open your mouth, the other party has already guessed the reason.

"How much?" Yawei walked into a large shopping mall while talking.

David followed him, frowning, opening and closing his mouth, back and forth several times.

"I actually... want you to help me convince my mother... I don't want to study anymore."

In the end, he still didn't lose his face and went to beg for money.

Yawei sighed softly, stood at the entrance of the shopping mall and supermarket, picked up a shopping cart and pushed it.

"Has the tuition fee increased?"

Yawei squinted his blue eyes, thought for a few seconds, and deduced the only possibility.

"Ah."

David didn't have time to ask Yahweh how he guessed the real reason for his reluctance to go to school.

A piercing sorrow had strangled his throat, and the pain of suffocation almost made him speechless.

He didn't want to do this, but he had no other choice.

"No matter what decision you make, your sister and I will support you unconditionally." Yawei patted the boy's drooping shoulder lightly, "but the real reason, you have to tell your mother yourself."

"why?"

"Don't deceive those close to you..." Yawei touched his chin, stared at David's confused expression with blue eyes, and smiled meaningfully, "Don't fly the banner of 'for your own good', go to lie."

"Won't brother-in-law lie to sister?"

"I just kept too much from her, and now it's getting harder and harder to speak up and tell the truth."

"Huh?" David was taken aback, and all his worries were forgotten by him.

"You lied to your sister?"

"It's not emotional, that's not what I mean." Yawei shook his head, and David had an expression on his face like an enemy, revealing the meaning of "I didn't expect you to be such a person", which made him laugh a little.

"I just want to say, don't underestimate your family." Yawei pushed the shopping cart, took a bag of snacks from the shelf, and continued, "Family is the one who can face difficulties together. So don't be old I want to be brave by myself..."

"So why did you lie to sister?"

"My situation is different from others..." Yawei rubbed the center of his brows with a headache, "But in the end, I will tell her the truth, but not now..."

(End of this chapter)